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The ionosphere of Mars and its importance for climate evolution

The ionosphere of Mars and its importance for climate evolution. A community white paper for the 2009 Planetary Decadal Survey Paul Withers (withers@bu.edu), Jared Espley, Rob Lillis, Dave Morgan and ~30 others MEPAG meeting, 2009.07.29 Brown University, Providence RI

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The ionosphere of Mars and its importance for climate evolution

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  1. The ionosphere of Mars and its importance for climate evolution A community white paper for the 2009 Planetary Decadal Survey Paul Withers (withers@bu.edu), Jared Espley, Rob Lillis, Dave Morgan and ~30 others MEPAG meeting, 2009.07.29 Brown University, Providence RI NOTE ADDED BY JPL WEBMASTER: This document was prepared by Boston University. The content has not been approved or adopted by, NASA, JPL, or the California Institute of Technology. This document is being made available for information purposes only, and any views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of NASA, JPL, or the California Institute of Technology.

  2. My objectives • MAVEN is worthwhile • Extension of MAVEN beyond nominal one Earth year duration will be extremely valuable • The science of the ionosphere of Mars will not end with MAVEN • Present some ideas for future ionospheric instruments and missions (with realism)‏

  3. Structure of white paper • Introduction • Ionospheres in general and the martian ionosphere in particular are great • What MAVEN will do • Excellent neutral/plasma composition • First in-depth look at the nightside • Effects of magnetic topology • Boundary between ionosphere and solar wind • Important questions that it is clear MAVEN will not answer • Measurements to answer those questions • Conclusions

  4. Important questions that MAVEN’s nominal mission will not answer • Q1 - Solar cycle variations • Q2 - Below 125 km • Q3 - Links between solar forcing and ionospheric properties • Q4 - Temporal variations • Q5 - Global coverage • Q6 - Hot atom escape fluxes • Q7 - Dynamical coupling between neutral atmosphere and ionosphere

  5. Desired measurements and instruments (1) • M1 – High cadence magnetic field measurements from surface to study currents induced by plasma motion [surface magnetometer] (Q2, Q4)‏ • M2 – High cadence vertical profiles of bottomside electron density [surface ionosonde] (Q2, Q4)‏ • M3 – High cadence total electron content measurements [surface riometer] (Q4)‏ • M4 – All-sky camera images of airglow [simple surface camera] (Q4)‏

  6. Desired measurements and instruments (2) • M5 – Upstream measurements of solar wind and irradiance simultaneous with ionospheric measurements [various small instruments on an orbiter] (Q3)‏ • M6 – Spacecraft-to-spacecraft radio occultations [minor modification to typical comm system of orbiters] (Q5)‏ • M7 – Simultaneous neutral winds, ion velocities, plasma density and magnetic field [Fly CINDI payload from C/NOFS on Mars orbiter] (Q7)‏

  7. Aeronomy Constellation Mission • This is a PROGRAM - What missions will be inspired by MAVEN's discoveries? • No chance of near-term flight, but a good place to plant idea of future mission-level concepts • Upstream monitor of solar conditions, downstream observations of escaping volatiles, plus simultaneous observations of the ionosphere

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